Arthur I. Cyr: Britain’s Prime Minister takes charge of cabinet

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Jul 10, 2018 at 11:30 AMJul 10, 2018 at 11:30 AM

LONDON — On July 6, Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain assembled her Cabinet at Chequers, the country retreat, to thrash out negotiating positions for terms of leaving the European Union (EU). She emerged the winner, but then Brexit Secretary David Davis resigned, followed by the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson.

Leaving the EU, known by the shorthand term “Brexit” has divided the ruling Conservative Party. Controversy over departure also has defined much of the nation’s political debate and discussion for two years.

In June 2016, the Conservative government was defeated in a public referendum vote to leave the European Union (EU). Prime Minister David Cameron had been consolidating power, winning a narrow but clear majority in the House of Commons in the general election of 2015.

After that victory, he and his associates no longer needed to continue the coalition government with the relatively small Liberal Democrats. That coalition formed the government from 2010 to 2015.

The close but clear vote in the 2016 referendum to leave the EU was a startling surprise. As with the 2016 presidential election in the United States, the majority of opinion polls predicted the opposite outcome. Clearly, there are strong currents of popular discontent in both countries that conventional polling techniques do not capture fully.

After that defeat, Cameron immediately resigned as prime minister. British politics can be extremely rough and ruthless. There is no period of grace and recuperation between a national defeat by the voters and the inauguration of a new chief executive.

New Prime Minister May proceeded quickly to outsmart herself by calling a sudden or “snap” general election in early June 2017. Rather than strengthening a narrow parliamentary majority, the Conservatives lost seats.

In order to govern, May and associates developed a collaborative partnership with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The Conservatives came out of the general election with 318 seats, short of the 326 needed for the narrowest majority on party-line votes.

The 10 members of the DUP provide the victory margin. In contrast to the arrangement with the Liberal Democrats, this is not a formal coalition government. That is a blessing because the DUP is on the far right on most policy and political matters.

Ian Paisley formed the party in 1971. Paisley, an evangelical Protestant minister, through his career was an extremist militant in the often violent, historically rooted conflict with the Catholic minority in Ulster. In the late 1960s, a faction of the revolutionary Irish Republican Army began a terrorist campaign against Britain’s governance of Northern Ireland.

Brexit has direct bearing on this British-Irish political stew. Ireland is a committed EU member. Prime Minister May rightly is committed to maintaining open borders with Ireland, which in turn were crucial to the 1998 peace accords Britain and Ireland — with the help of U.S. leaders — achieved in Northern Ireland. A “hard Brexit,” meaning a complete break from the EU, would directly threaten this hard-won stability.

May was tough at Chequers. She made clear Britain would pursue open trade with Europe in goods and agriculture. This is of crucial importance for international business interests.

Ministers arriving at Chequers found their cell phones quickly collected. The prime minister indicated anyone leaving the meeting early would have a long walk — the government cars and other perks of office would be unavailable.

Prime Minister May won at Chequers and deserves considerable credit, but two-front political conflict continues, domestic as well as EU. — Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of “After the Cold War.” Contact acyr@carthage.edu.

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